High of 85 Low of 74 Slight to moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 ARE OFREG’S TROUBLES ‘GROWING PAINS’ OR SOMETHING MORE? LOCAL | PAGE 5 PREMIER MEETS UK GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 $ 3 99 M EAL D EALS MONDAY - SATURDAY 9pcs MIXED , 2 Sides & 5 BISCUITS NEW FAMILY SUNDAY Tourism sector continues to smash records Volleyball action takes over Cayman beach COMMUNITY SERVICE ORDERED FOR DOCTOR’S ROAD DEATH KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman saw 145,804 stayover visitors arrive during the first three months of 2019, an 8.67% increase over the first quarter of 2018, and the most stayovers re- corded in the first quarter of any year in the territory’s history. Those visitors, as well as the cruise passengers who came on island, spent an estimated $235 million during the first quarter period. There was a slight dip in the number of cruise pas- sengers in the first quarter, from 671,935 during the first three months of last year to 641,045 be- tween January and March 2019. Cayman also saw the most visitors ever come to its shores for a month in March, when 59,563 stayover visitors were recorded. The Department of Tourism said Cayman Airways’ recently- launched direct route to Col- orado contributed to March’s strong performance, with 638 visitors flying here from Denver during that month. “The Cayman Islands should be proud of its record-breaking stayover performance in the first quarter of 2019,” said Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell in a statement. “As a Ministry and Department of Tourism, we are MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com It was not the best they have done, but Cayman volleyball players Jes- sica Wolfenden and Stefania Gandolfi said they were pleased with their ninth place finish in this year’s NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour. “We’re very happy with that,” Wolfenden said after the team received the ninth-place spot based on points. It was the best finish among this year’s four Cayman teams – two women’s and two men’s teams – with no team ad- vancing out of the first round of play. Wolfenden said she and Gandolfi finished fourth in 2016. That is the only time a Cayman team has made it to the semi-finals. Play continued on Sunday with the top players in the tournament, which featured 36 teams from 15 countries, facing off in the finals at 4 p.m. Results of those games will appear in Tuesday’s Compass. Wolfenden and Gandolfifaced formidable opponents in their first two games against teams from Canada and the United States. After losing to those Pedestrian at airport was vulnerable victim, Crown points out CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A driver whose taxi struck and killed an ar- riving passenger at the airport was sentenced on Friday to perform 240 hours of unpaid com- munity service. Roy Clivey Tamasa, who was 70 when the in- cident occurred on July 17, 2017, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Dr. Vary Jones-Leslie by careless driving. A 62-year-old obstetrician/gy- naecologist, she was a regular visitor to Grand Cayman, working with the Health Services Au- thority. She had just arrived on a flight from Kingston, Jamaica. Crown counsel Greg Walcolm said the victim, as a pedestrian, was a vulnerable road user outside the terminal of the Owen Roberts International Airport, where one would expect there to be many pedestrians. The offence was initially charged as causing death by dangerous driving, but reconsidered after expert reports clarified what had happened. Tamasa had been driving twice the speed limit of 15 mph, not three times as originally thought. Justice Michael Wood noted that the collision occurred “not actually on the pedestrian crossing, but slightly off it”. Walcolm detailed that the victim was crossing MAN SUSTAINS GUNSHOT WOUNDS A man remained in stable condition in hospital Sunday after he was shot twice at an address off South Church Street in George Town on Friday morning. Police and other emergency services re- sponded to a report of the man being shot shortly after 1:20 a.m. According to police, the victim was al- ready being transported to the hospital by ambulance when police officers arrived. The man had sustained two gunshot wounds. Police said he sustained “serious but non-life-threatening injuries”. No arrests have been made in the case, a police spokeswoman said Sunday. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » Cayman’s Stefania Gandolfi, left, and Jessica Wolfenden take on the US Virgin Islands on Friday in the NORCECA tournament. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY2 LOCAL®IONAL MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com There was the requisite baking soda volcano. But there was also a study on the ‘Amazing Effects of Fish Poop,’ a survey of jellyfish populations, a look at how quickly biodegradable uten- sils break down, data gath- ered on which Cayman beach has the cleanest sand, and an incubator decorated as a chicken, where lots of little girls gathered to watch chicks hatch from a tray of eggs. The Rotary Central Sci- ence Fair, which was held Saturday at Cayman Inter- national School, featured 74 projects by 112 students. This was the fair’s 13th year. Science fair chairwoman Ally Speirs said she remem- bers the beginning. “I was in the first science fair,” Speirs said. “I tracked the digestive system of a snake and I brought a live snake to the fair.” She said the overall so- phistication of projects has risen since the early years. “It’s incredible,” she said. “The projects I’ve seen are so impressive.” First place winners in four categories received prizes of $1,500. Other prizes included tablets and phones. Michael Marzouca, 13, and Harrison Richards, 14, developed a computer code for their project that mod- elled the spread of an air- borne virus. Their objective was to determine the best ways people could deter that spread. They looked at cov- ering one’s mouth during a sneeze, hand washing, wearing gloves or using hand sanitiser. “We hypothesised that covering your face when you sneeze would have the greatest effect,” said Harrison. A sneeze can contaminate a volume of up to 384 cubic feet, Harrison said. It turned out, based on the computer model, which Mi- chael wrote in Java code, that their hypothesis was wrong. “We found that washing your hands was one of the most effective [methods],” Harrison said. The only problem, he added, was “you have to wash your hands for 56 seconds”. Michael said he got the idea for the project after seeing so many people get sick from the flu virus this winter. Many of the projects at the fair had a similar practical side. Esme Claybourn, 8, of Cayman Prep, enlisted three friends to look at whether plastic-like products pro- moted as biodegradable actu- ally decompose after use. “I got the idea from finding a credit card in the mud from 1973,” Esme said. “We found out that these bio- degradable products actually break down.” The team placed a variety of items in a long plastic trough filled with dirt and let them sit. They watered the dirt daily and added some composting mate- rial. The four girls said they plan to change their own use based on the study, and hope others will too. “We’re going to use more biodegradable things in the school and try not to throw away so much plastic,” said Jaicee Seymour, 8. “We can improve things if we get companies to use more biodegradable products and by doing beach and water clean-ups,” Esme added. Alida Dzaghgouni, 11, of Montessori by the Sea, looked at the impact of sun- screens on coral. Last year, she said, “we had 2.8 million tourists.” If each one had used sun- screens that were not reef friendly and gone into the water, as much as 2,500 kg of material could have gone into the ocean, Alida said. As part of her project, she’s encouraging stores to carry more reef-friendly sun- screens. Hurley’s market sent her an email saying they were willing to put more sig- nage on their shelves to help customers identify which sunscreens are reef friendly. “This is just another problem we should deal with,” Alida said. “We should deal with it now, because it’s just going to get worse.” Speirs said the earth sci- ences have come to domi- nate the science fair in recent years, as students focus more on ecological issues. That change has been student driven. Rotary, and the other sponsors of the science fair, are just interested in piquing students’ interest. “We want to get students involved in science,” she said. The fair “shows how science can be fun”. Two male juveniles were arrested Saturday after sev- eral properties, cars and street signs were vandal- ised in Websters Estates the day before. Police responded to a report of the vandalism around 7:30 a.m. on Friday. Among the property de- faced were vehicles, walls, road signs, street lights and other private property, police said. On Sunday, signs of the vandalism were still in ev- idence, with derogatory words spray-painted on garden walls and red paint covering speed signs. The two juveniles were arrested on suspicion of burglary and damage to property. Police did not specify the ages of the two youths. They were both in- terviewed by police and granted bail into the custody of their par- ents pending further investigation. Deputy Commissioner of Police Kurt Walton said in a statement, “We would like to thank the members of the community who came together quickly to support each other just after the in- cident and assist police of- ficers with the investiga- tion. We have a quick and concrete result that they helped bring about.” Police said they were still investigating the in- cident, and police officers remained at the scene on Sunday morning. MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS BREAKTHROUGH (PG) 1:25 I 4:10 I 7:15 I 10:00 SUN: 4:10 I 7:15 I 10:00 KALANK (PG) 3:10 I 9:00 (SAT ONLY) I 9:30 (NO SAT) SUN: 3:10 I 9:20 LITTLE (PG13) 12:30 I 3:25 (SAT ONLY) I 3:50 (NO SAT) 6:50 I 9:45 SUN: 3:50 I 6:50 I 9:35 DUMBO 10:30 (SAT ONLY) I 4:35 I 7:15 (NO SAT) SUN: 4:35 I 7:15 CAPTAIN MARVEL 1:40 I 10:00 (NO SAT) SUN: 6:30 I 10:00 THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (R) 1:10 VIP I 4:35 I 7:00 VIP I 10:15 HELLBOY (R) 12:35 (SAT ONLY) I 1:00 I 6:10 (SAT ONLY) I 6:45 SHAZAM! (PG13) 1:30 I 3:40 VIP I 7:15 I 9:30 VIP SUN: 3:40 VIP I 4:40 I 6:40 VIP 8:00 I KIDS CLUB: OVER THE HEDGE(PG) 10:00 (SAT ONLY) CULTURE AT THE CINEMA: THE TRAGEDY OF KIND RICHARD THE SECOND(R18) SAT ONLY: 8:00 Matinees Daily (matinee price before 6pm) Seniors $8.00, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any film starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. - MONDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) AVENGERS: END GAME (PG13) 12:30 VIP I 1:00 I 2:50 I 4:20 VIP 5:00 3D I 6:30 3D I 8:10 VIP I 9:00 BREAKTHROUGH (PG) 12:40 I 3:45 I 6:50 I 9:40 THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (R) 12:30 I 4:05 I 10:20 LITTLE (PG13) 1:45 I 4:30 I 7:25 I 10:00 CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG13) 1:10 SHAZAM! (PG13) 6:45 I 9:45 Young scientists veer towards the practical VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT DENOUNCES REGIONAL OAS FORUM 2 juveniles arrested for vandalism CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – The government of Vene- zuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday staged a rally to celebrate its split with a key regional forum, the Organization of Amer- ican States. Supporters of Maduro at- tended the demonstration in the Venezuelan capital to de- nounce the 35-member OAS, whose council voted this month to recognise an envoy selected by opposition leader Juan Guaidó. A minority of countries voted against the resolution. In 2017, Maduro started a two-year process to abandon the OAS, but Guaidó this year asked the group to ig- nore the socialist leader and instead designate Gustavo Tarre as his own envoy. The US and most other OAS member states recog- nise Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president, saying Maduro was not legitimately re-elected last year. Maduro says the OAS is violating Venezuela’s sovereignty. Also Saturday, ambassa- dors appointed by Guaidó to represent him in the region gathered in Colombia to dis- cuss ways to increase diplo- matic pressure on Maduro, who retains the support of Venezuela’s military leader- ship and counts Russia and China among his allies. One of Guaidó’s en- voys, Julio Borges, said they planned to hold a similar event for opposition envoys in Europe in May. The Venezuelan opposi- tion is preparing for nation- wide marches on May 1 that it hopes will weaken Ma- duro’s hold on power in a country whose economy has been shrinking for years. The opposition blames Venezue- la’s problems on corruption and mismanagement under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez; supporters of Maduro say US sanc- tions and other measures to isolate them are driving the crisis. Governor Martyn Roper opened Saturday’s science fair where he met some of the students, including Christopher Seerattan, left, and Finlay Dacker, of First Baptist Christian School, who were awarded a prize for their project on the ‘Amazing Effects of Fish Poop’. - PHOTO: ROTARY CENTRAL This chicken egg incubator proved a popular exhibit, as children gathered around to watch the eggs hatch. - PHOTO: MARK MUCKENFUSS A sign marking a speed hump is defaced in Websters Estate. Graffiti featuring a shooting gun was among the items spray- painted on walls in the early hours of Friday morning. - PHOTOS: KEN SILVA3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 Work starts on Camana Bay residential community Miller objects to vehicle license amnesty Leader of the Opposition Ezzard Miller is objecting to the government’s six-month amnesty for owners of unli- censed vehicles, which begins Monday. Miller said he particularly opposed the waiving of the backlog of fees, which he said adds up to millions of dollars in unpaid fees owed to the government. “I am disappointed to see that the am- nesty includes a waiver of the backlog of licensing fees, given that transgressors should be easily trackable in a timely way based on properly maintained file data,” Miller said in a statement Friday. “By waiving the large backlog of li- censing fees, the government is falling back on the politically motivated, non- punitive, forgiving position, because they have found themselves facing the embar- rassment of not having insisted on the en- forcement of the law as fees become due. “This consistent neglect of duty is what leads to the breakdown of respect for the law,” he said. Prospect MLA Austin Harris, citing statistics he said were gathered from var- ious government departments and shared in Finance Committee, told lawmakers at a Legislative Assembly meeting earlier this month that there are currently 37,406 unlicensed vehicles in Cayman, compared to 42,459 registered vehicles. With vehicle licensing fees for cars be- ginning at $180 a year, the government is potentially owed more than $6 million annually for outstanding fees, Miller said. Some vehicles have been unlicensed since 2004’s Hurricane Ivan, when many vehicles were destroyed, but were never officially de-registered or removed from the Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing’s database. The DVDL announced last week that, beginning Monday, April 29, and con- tinuing until Nov. 1, an amnesty will be in place to ‘hit reset’ for drivers with mounting unpaid back licensing fees. Customers will only have to pay fees to license their car going forward and all back fees will be written off. Miller said in his statement that he could “accept a waiving of prosecution once outstanding fees are paid up in im- mediate response to the amnesty, even though in so doing we are turning a blind eye to the fact that operating an unlicensed vehicle on the road is a crim- inal offence under the Traffic Law”. But, he said, extending the amnesty to the waiving of “all collectable unpaid licensing fees, is beyond unacceptable – it is unconscionable”. He added that the waiving of fees is “particularly troubling” when government is prosecuting Caymanians through the courts for unpaid medical bills. “How can we justify prosecuting people through the courts because they were sick and could not pay bills, while we waive unpaid vehicle licensing fees and deprive government of substantial revenue which is needed to maintain the roads?” he asked. In his statement, Miller also ques- tioned the administration accountability of the DVDL for the collection of the out- standing fees going back years, and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service for the enforcement of the law. Last week, as the amnesty was an- nounced, Commerce, Planning and In- frastructure Minister Joey Hew said the government had recognised that circum- stances beyond some people’s control may have led to a backlog of fees, stating, “Some were unable to keep up with the fees, whereas others just forgot to termi- nate the vehicle prior to disposal.” According to the government, the aim of the amnesty to is bring unlicensed vehicles back into compliance, to clear up the DVDL register, and to reduce the number of aban- doned cars across Cayman. KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com Project officials broke ground Friday on Ca- mana Bay’s first for-sale residential development, known as ‘OLEA’. Located next to Cayman International School, the project is being developed by Dart Real Estate and the NCB Group, and will feature 124 residences comprised of condos, townhouses and du- plexes that range from one to four bedrooms. Amenities include a re- sort-style pool, a community garden, an outdoor dining area, and a fully equipped gym – as well as Cayman’s first ‘lazy river’, which will run around the pool area. The development will also have the largest residential solar array in Grand Cayman, geothermal cooling, LED lighting, water-conserving plumbing fixtures, and en- ergy-efficient appliances, ac- cording to Dart Real Estate. “These two alternative en- ergy sources, when combined with ICF construction, LED lighting, ISO compliant and low U Factor windows, an ir- rigation cistern, and sustain- able building materials, will make OLEA an extremely en- ergy efficient community,” said Wight. For parents, the most val- uable aspect of OLEA will be that children can bike or walk to school or the Camana Bay town centre without having to be endangered by heavy traffic, said Dart Real Estate President Jackie Doak. Properties range from US$600,000 to $2 million, and over 50% of the proper- ties have been sold, according to NCB Managing Director Matthew Wight. Over the next several weeks, people passing by the project site can expect to see foundational work being done. After that, people will see “a lot of intense work” there for the next couple of years, said project architect Mike Stroh. Construction on the units should be finished in about a year, said Stroh. Suspended sentence for teen stabbing Young age an important factor, judge agrees CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A teenager who pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding was sentenced last week to 15 months’ im- prisonment, but that term was suspended after Jus- tice Michael Wood heard arguments based on the de- fendant’s age. Defence attorney Ru- pert Wheeler submitted that the defendant was still a child under Cay- man’s Children Law, which defines a child as “a person under the age of 18”. He accepted, however, that once a person is 17, “they come under the jurisdic- tion of the adult criminal justice system”. He also noted that, “If one looks [at the] UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, 18 is the magic number at which point somebody be- comes an adult.” The defendant before the court was more or less halfway through her 17th year when she committed the offence, so she was “a true 17 year old” at the time, Wheeler said. He therefore was asking for a private hearing of the matter. Crown counsel Garcia Kelly pointed out that the offence was committed in public and was one that “caused quite a stir in the community”. He said the community had to learn what the decision of the court was in relation to the offence. In passing sentence, the judge said that for the pur- pose of this hearing, the defendant was to be re- ferred to as “a young girl of 17, and her name is not to be published or passed on to anyone at all. If anyone does so, it would be a clear contempt of court, which is punishable by a fine and/ or imprisonment. I hope I made myself clear”. He summed up the in- cident, which occurred in the latter half of 2018, when the defendant and the victim had “a verbal al- tercation” outside a gas sta- tion on Eastern Avenue. The altercation oc- curred after the victim sent the defendant a number of threatening text messages and voice notes. He quoted a number of rude and crude remarks. All of them were accepted as messages directed not just at the de- fendant but also at her grandmother. The court viewed CCTV of the complainant entering a premises and attacking the defendant. The defendant then left the premises. She accepted that she encountered the com- plainant outside and cut her once on the left side of the chest with a kitchen knife. She was not thinking clearly following the attack and lashed out irrationally, he commented. “You were, in my judg- ment, sorely provoked, but what you should not have done is pick up a knife and go after [the other girl],” he told the defendant. He referred to her un- fortunate background and said sentencing for a child or young person should focus on rehabilitation where possible. A custodial sentence should almost be a last resort. He quoted from UK guidelines, which point out that children and young people are not fully devel- oped and have not attained full maturity. It is impor- tant to consider “the extent to which the child or young person has been acting im- pulsively and whether their conduct has been affected by inexperience, emo- tional volatility or negative influences”. He said this defendant had been making extraordi- nary progress and had re- sponded well to recent sup- port provided to her. He added that the stab- bing had caused a one- inch penetrating wound, but it had not punctured a lung and recovery had been complete. He therefore imposed a sentence of 15 months, sus- pended for two years, and a period of supervision for two years. “That means if you commit any offense punishable by imprison- ment within the next two years, you’ll go to prison for the sentence I just passed upon you, plus anything for the new offence.” He said he was giving her a chance and asked that she not let him down or anyone else who was supporting her. “The abuse you have suffered, combined with provocation that day, led in my view to this incident,” he concluded. The altercation occurred after the victim sent the defendant a number of threatening text messages and voice notes. District Administration Chief Officer Stran Bodden, Health Minister Dwayne Seymour, NCB Group President Naul Bodden, Dart Real Estate President Jackie Doak, Infrastructure Minister Joey Jew, MLA Barbara Conolly, NCB Group Managing Director Matthew Wight, project architect Mike Stroh, Dart financial analyst Jacqueline Thompson, and Dart Real Estate Executive Vice President Justin Howe break ground on OLEA, Camana Bay’s first for-sale residential community. - PHOTO: KEN SILVA A rendering of ‘OLEA’, Camana Bay’s first for-sale residential development. Officials broke ground on the project Friday. Ezzard MillerThe islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion & Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHER KATHLEEN CAPETTA EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way” “If we’re paying for something with the objective of lowering costs, and the costs aren’t going down, it means in essence that we’re paying for nothing. The real question, then, is: What’s the use?” – MLA Chris Saunders Legislators’ narrow vote to provide supplemen- tary funding for the Utilities Regulation and Compe- tition Office this month should be a wake-up call for Cayman’s troubled super-regulator. As the Compass reported earlier this month, lawmakers were nearly evenly split over OfReg’s request for a $1.3 million budget boost for its fuels- regulation operations, with approval coming only after Finance Committee chair Roy McTaggart voted ‘yes’ to break the tie. The funds infusion was necessary because OfReg does not generate any revenue from the fuels sector, OfReg Acting CEO Duke Monroe explained. But law- makers, rightly, took the opportunity to question what returns Cayman’s residents have thus far reaped from government’s considerable investment in OfReg. Since its launch in January 2017, OfReg has trav- elled an exceptionally rocky road marked by sudden leadership changes, questionable priorities and exorbi- tant expenditures. In its first year, alone, OfReg ran nearly $1.5 million in the red, spending $2.2 million on salaries and benefits for 22 employees, an additional $1 million in consultancy and professional fees and nearly an addi- tional quarter million on travel-related expenses. The regulator flirted with, then abandoned the idea of requiring licensing for retailers that offer wireless internet hot spots for customers. It suggested that government take on the Herculean task of installing fibre optic networks in the Eastern districts – offering a pie-in-the-sky vision of universal access to internet connection speeds many times faster than those found in major first-world nations – and send private telecommunications companies the bill. Yet, OfReg’s leaders inexplicably publicly declared it was “not worth starting a war” to collect fees legally owed by government broadcasters and considered it “futile” to hold cable companies to a requirement that they provide free access to local content. Blessedly, OfReg appears to have abandoned its impractical broadband proposal – which was widely and decisively panned by industry experts during consultation. As the Compass reports, OfReg’s 2019 annual plan now indicates it intends instead to set minimum standards for broadband service, including internet speeds and a timeline by which those speeds should be reached But there is little other evidence that OfReg has gotten its priorities in order, broadly speaking. In February, in what appears to be a solution looking for a problem, the regulator released for comment a Byzantine 41-part set of draft regulations intended to crack down on deceptive or unfair mar- keting practises by companies under its purview. Cur- rently, as Opposition Leader Ezzard Miller pointed out, the regulator is undergoing a study of the colour and nozzle size of the territory’s fuel pumps, a seemingly minor detail Monroe defended by saying his office has received complaints from customers confused by vari- ations between fuel providers. At the same time, as lawmakers noted, the terri- tory’s fuel prices are undiminished. Premier Alden McLaughlin has defended the regu- lator, calling OfReg’s troubles mere “teething issues”. But he and OfReg’s leaders must understand they are running out of time to set things right. Are OfReg’s troubles ‘growing pains’ or something more? MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS The consequences of Washington’s Cuba policy DAVID JESSOP Just before Easter, the Trump administration an- nounced multiple new sanc- tions on Cuba. In doing so, senior US officials made clear that Washington was not just trying to break Ha- vana’s close economic and political ties with Venezuela but intended the measures to bring about fundamental po- litical change. It is a position that stands in stark contrast to that of the EU, Canada, Mexico and most other nations worldwide that believe the only way to en- courage change in Cuba is through dialogue, calibrated support and the exploration of the potential that genera- tional change offers. Speaking on April 17 to Bay of Pigs veterans in Miami, the US National Se- curity Adviser, John Bolton, could not have been clearer about US intentions. US policy in the Americas, he ob- served in a speech high on aggressive rhetoric against Cuba, now ends with the re- moval of communism and so- cialism from the hemisphere. The same day in signifi- cantly more measured terms, Mike Pompeo, the US Secre- tary of State, suggested that the sanctions were intended to advance “human rights and democracy on behalf of the Cuban people”. The new measures allow, as of May 2, US lawsuits against anyone, including US companies, ‘trafficking’ (making use of) expropri- ated US property in Cuba, by ceasing to waive Title III of its 1996 Helms Burton leg- islation. More potently, the State Department will now actively use Title IV of the bill to deny US visas to any foreign national who ‘traf- fics’ in confiscated prop- erty or who are corporate officers or shareholders of in- volved entities. The Trump administra- tion also said that it will halt ‘u-turn’ financial transac- tions to Cuban entities made through US banks and will cap previously unlimited per- sonal transfers to US$1,000 per quarter, a measure ex- pected to drastically reduce the US$4 billion a year or- dinary Cubans receive in re- mittances, largely from the US. In addition, Washington will impose new restrictions on non-family travel to Cuba in ways that are as yet un- clear but likely to impair sig- nificantly all US travel to the island. It will also add addi- tional Cuban enterprises and individuals to the State De- partment’s restricted list. Other measures are also planned. Speaking after Pompeo, the US Assistant Sec- retary for the Western Hemi- sphere, Kim Brier, said that the US is exploring further options and that the meas- ures announced were just the beginning of a new process. Although the detail has yet to be spelt out, an ‘on background’ interview with two senior-level Trump ad- ministration officials con- ducted by the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc provides several clues. The business group, which works with US and other in- vestors in Cuba, quoted its interlocutors as saying that while they did not expect sanctions to result in im- mediate political change in Cuba, one intended outcome would be to alter the struc- ture of the Cuban economy by removing the subsidised oil exports the country re- ceives from Venezuela. The same individuals also said that that a unique con- fluence of events now offers the US the opportunity to bring about change in Cuba. “For President Trump, the stars have aligned, and Ven- ezuela is the tool that we believe can provide change within two countries” one of the officials was quoted on the organisation’s web- site as saying. How effective such an ap- proach might be is unclear. Cuba has a 50-year-plus his- tory of resistance and no in- clination to back down in the face of US pressure. More- over, there are already signs of a significant deepening in Havana’s economic and polit- ical relationship with Russia, which both sides now pub- licly refer to once again as being strategic In a joint letter to Pompeo, the EU High Representa- tive, Federica Mogherini, and the EU Trade Commissioner, Cecelia Malmstrom, made clear that the US decision on Helms-Burton broke commit- ments made by Washington in 1997 and 1998, and should not be conflated with shared concerns about human rights and democracy in Cuba, or the need to urgently to find a solution to the crisis in Venezuela. Subsequently, the EU and Canada issued a joint statement expressing con- cern about the impact of US policy on legitimate EU and Canadian business activity in Cuba. They also indicated they would work together to offset any extraterritorial ef- fect by introducing counter- vailing sanctions against US entities and introduce ac- tions at the World Trade Organisation. Recent statements make it hard to escape the conclu- sion that President Trump and his most senior ad- visers have embarked on a strategy intended to engineer change in Cuba though eco- nomic hardship and the cre- ation of discontent. If this is so, it is policy which has unpredictable political, so- cial, economic and migratory consequences, placing ide- ology above realpolitik and what is humane. David Jessop is a consultant to the Caribbean Council and can be contacted at david.jessop@caribbean-council.org. © 2019, David Jessop Washington will impose new restrictions on non-family travel to Cuba in ways that are as yet unclear but likely to impair significantly all US travel to the island. 5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 Premier meets UK government officials Trees planted at Cayman’s first Arbour Day National Trust and Min- istry of Environment officials celebrated the first Arbour Day in the Cayman Islands Friday at the Mission House with the planting of two na- tive Whitewood trees. “This is the first Arbour Day for the National Trust,” said National Trust mar- keting manager Nasaria Budal. “It is an added event to our annual Earth Month celebrations, but particularly special as we hope to use the event as a platform to pro- mote awareness around our native trees; each year we will focus on a different tree.” She said the Whitewood tree was chosen for this year’s tree planting “because it is so closely tied to our local her- itage – the trunk of White- wood trees was often used to make Cayman Catboats and schooners, and tree limbs were fashioned into sling- shots by young children”. The Ministry of Envi- ronment donated one of the trees, and Caribbean Blooms worked closely with the Na- tional Trust to source the lo- cally grown tree from the Trust’s Colliers Wilderness Reserve in East End. The trees were planted in the backyard of the historic Mission House in Bodden Town. The surrounding garden is a traditional Caymanian sand yard with ornamental and fruit trees, as well as medicinal herbs like mint and fever grass. Arbour Day began in Ne- braska City, Nebraska, in 1872 when J. Sterling Morton and his wife, who were lovers of nature, proposed a tree- planting holiday. That year, it is estimated that Nebraskans planted one million trees. It is celebrated around the world today on varying dates due to local seasons and spe- cies of trees chosen. Premier Alden McLaughlin says he warned senior UK government officials about meddling in Cayman affairs, during meetings he held in London this week. The premier, along with Chief Officer Eric Bush of the Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs, and Roy Tatum, Head of the Of- fice of the Premier, met sep- arately on Wednesday with Ben Wallace, the UK’s Min- ister of State for the Home Office, and Ben Merrick, Di- rector of the Overseas Ter- ritories Department of the Foreign and Common- wealth Office. McLaughlin also sponsored later on Wednesday a Cayman Is- lands All Party Parliamen- tary Group dinner, with cross-party attendance, at the House of Lords. In a press release from the Office of the Premier, McLaughlin said that at the dinner, he was able to engage with a number of important figures in Parliament and the House of Lords “to fur- ther our education campaign about the Cayman Islands within Westminster”. “Continued high level en- gagement with MPs and Peers is essential for the Cayman Islands to main- tain a presence and under- standing within the Houses of Commons and Lords,” he said, adding, “My mes- sage also included a note of warning of the conse- quences of a UK Parliament; 4,500 miles from the Cayman Islands interfering in local matters that are not only de- volved, but in circumstances where they have no real un- derstanding of local people and local affairs.” The meetings with Wal- lace and Merrick focussed on the ongoing talks on constitu- tional reform for the Cayman Islands, and other issues. According to the press re- lease, with the Brexit date pushed back to October, “the UK and the Cayman Islands governments are both keen to conclude the constitutional reform discussions, and to have the proposed changes debated in the Cayman Is- lands Legislative Assembly later this year”. The UK government’s up- coming response to the re- cently published Foreign Af- fairs Committee report on the relationship with the Over- seas Territories was also discussed, along with mat- ters relating to the Euro- pean Union blacklisting pro- cess and public registers of beneficial ownership, the re- lease stated. The Cayman delegation also met on Wednesday with Sir Jeffery Jowell, QC, who is advising the Cayman Islands Government on constitutional reform and the appeal of the Chief Justice’s judgment that legalised same-sex marriages in the Cayman Islands. The host of the Cayman Islands All Party Parlia- mentary Group dinner, with cross-party attendance, was group member Lord North- brook, a long-time supporter of the Cayman Islands. “The Premier updated attendees on Cayman’s economy and how well the country is doing. But he also spoke frankly on matters of concern regarding what many in the Overseas Territo- ries view as a worrying trend by some UK parliamentarians to intervene in the affairs of the territories in matters that are the devolved responsi- bility of the elected govern- ments of the territories,” ac- cording to the release. McLaughlin referred to the purported imposition of public registers of beneficial ownership by the UK Par- liament as well as the ap- proach taken by the Foreign Affairs Committee in its re- cent report on the Territo- ries, which he described as “alarming”. He said that this type of unwarranted inter- vention, should it continue, will only serve to drive a wedge between the people of the territories and the United Kingdom and, in the end, will serve neither the interests of the UK nor the territories well. The premier and the Cayman delegation travelled to Monaco on Thursday for meetings with key yacht bro- kers and industry leaders. The Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands is hosting those meetings to advance the work of the new Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs, the premier’s office stated. On Sunday, McLaughlin is scheduled to participate in an annual charity bicycle ride of more than 87 miles to benefit the Princess Char- lene of Monaco Foundation. The Cayman Islands Govern- ment has partly sponsored the riding kit for the event, and riding jerseys promi- nently display the Cayman Islands Coat of Arms. HURRICANE SHELTER VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT Hurricane shelter oper- ators are looking for 100 volunteers to help man the sites in the event of major storms in the upcoming hurricane season, which begins on June 1. As part of its annual hurricane shelter volun- teer programme, the De- partment of Children and Family Services, in part- nership with Hazard Man- agement Cayman Islands, will hold training sessions on Monday and Tuesday, May 27 and 28. This year, the DCFS plans on training approx- imately 100 volunteers to ensure there is an ade- quate pool of volunteers to draw from to assist with shelter operations during the six-month-long hurri- cane season. During the sessions, at- tendees will be instructed in all areas of shelter man- agement. Trainee volun- teers will learn, among other procedures: basic radio skills to liaise with the National Emergency Operations Centre; the rules and regulations gov- erning shelters; child pro- tection protocol; the hur- ricane activation stages; safety precautions, in- cluding an understanding of what items are not al- lowed in a shelter. Once volunteers com- plete the training, they will receive certification and their contact details will be added to the reg- ister of volunteers. Some of the 16 shel- ters in Grand Cayman will be staffed by Cayman Is- lands Red Cross volun- teers. Additionally, some shelters are designated as Emergency Medical Shel- ters which will be staffed by Health Services Au- thority personnel. Anyone interested in volunteering for the training must sign up on or before Friday, May 17. Interested parties are required to attend both training sessions from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at John Gray School Hall. Those who completed their training in 2017 and 2018 need not attend the up- coming sessions, but must still register. To sign up for the hurricane shelter training sessions, email dcfs.smt@gov.ky or call 949-0920. Premier Alden McLaughlin, fifth from left, meets British MPs during a visit to London last week, including, from left, Martin Vickers, Keith Taylor, Pauline Latham, Jeremy Lefroy; Ian Paisley Jr., and Sheryll Murray. Anyone interested in volunteering for hurricane shelter training should sign up by Friday, May 17. National Trust and Ministry of Environment officials gather to plant trees to mark Arbour Day on Friday.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 two teams, they came back to beat the US Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago. Gandolfisaid she en- joyed teaming up again with Wolfenden. Last year, Cayman did not host a NORCECA stop. “It was nice to be back on the court with her, on the home court with the fans on our side,” Gandolfisaid. “We have fun playing no matter what.” The Cayman Islands is the second of 10 stops on this year’s tour, which started in Mexico on April 18 and runs through the rest of the year. Cayman organisers opted out of the tour last year to focus on local development. “We took the money and did more with the develop- mental stage,” said Javid Ali, technical director for the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation. He said the funds were used to send three coaches to the Dominican Re- public for training. Canadian coach Rick Bevis was also re- cruited to strengthen the pro- gramme and officials worked to introduce volleyball into schools in order to recruit younger players. “The whole goal is to train a lot of the PE teachers so they can teach it and teach it the right way,” Ali said. Cindy Joe is directing the youth programme and said initial tryouts this year drew 50 prospective players. The federation now has two 18-member squads, one for boys and one for girls, and is planning to send a junior national team to Jamaica for competition later this year. “We’re really hoping to improve our pipeline and grow our volleyball commu- nity,” Joe said. “Our slogan is volleyball for life.” Federation President Ken- nedy McGowan said the or- ganisation is receiving sup- port from the government and a number of private do- nors, as well as the commu- nity at large. “We had an overwhelming amount of support from the locals in terms of volunteers,” McGowan said. Despite taking a year off, he was expecting record crowds at this year’s tourna- ment, most of whom turned out Saturday afternoon and Sunday. The VIP section was enlarged to accommodate the anticipated increase, he said. The tournament benefits the islands’ tourism busi- ness, McGowan said, not just from players and their sup- porters visiting the island, but from the word of mouth those players provide as they travel to other destinations. Wolfenden said players are impressed by the Cayman tournament. “I always hear them com- ment on how smooth eve- rything is run and how well they’re taken care of,” she said. “Each year it gets better and better.” Organisers are hoping Cayman teams will do the same. During men’s play, the team of Casey Santamaria and Jesse Parham placed 10th based on points earned during the first round of play. They lost to Guate- mala and the Dominican Re- public and received a forfeit win from Costa Rica in their competitions. Nathan Dack and Richard Campbell failed to win any of their four first-round games and came in 17th in the tournament. Both men’s teams played teams from the US Virgin Is- lands Sunday morning as part of NORCECA’s Conti- nental Cup. The Virgin Is- lands teams won both games. The other Cayman wom- en’s team in the tournament, Marissa Harrison and Ileann Powery, faced teams from the United States, Canada and Nicaragua in their opening round of play, losing to all three teams. Powery, a student at the University College of the Cayman Islands, said she was happy with the way she and Harrison, who goes to school in San Diego, Cali- fornia, played. “Considering me and her don’t train at all [together], I don’t think you can ask for much better,” she said. “We do try our hardest, but we don’t have the chemistry that would be formed if we worked together.” Just 21, Powery said she will continue to play as long as she can. “I love representing these islands,” she said. MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS Volleyball action takes over Cayman beach Leila Consuelo Martinez Ortega of Cuba spikes a ball against Marcela Araya of Costa Rica. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY The US Virgin Islands’ Lisa Dietrich goes for a block on a shot by Cayman’s Stefania Gandolfias Jessica Wolfenden looks on. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY Some of Jessica Wolfenden’s students from Cayman International School came out to support their teacher on Friday, the opening day of the NORCECA tournament. - PHOTO: ALVARO SEREY Cayman in action against Canada on Friday. - PHOTO: ALVARO SEREY Cayman player Marissa Harrison stretches for a ball in NORCECA Tournament play. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY Casey Santamaria, right, sends a pass to Cayman teammate Jesse Parham - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY Cayman’s Richard Campbell, left, confronts a Canadian player at the net during NORCECA tournament action. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 the roadway diagonally, not perpendicular to the flow of traffic. At the point of impact, she was continuing on her diagonal path with the pedestrian crossing behind her and to her left. Before the impact, Ta- masa was “momentarily dis- tracted” because he had glanced across the short- term car park to check the level of congestion at the taxi dispatch lane outside the terminal exit. He applied his brakes be- fore impact, but it was too late to avoid collision. Tamasa immediately brought his Toyota Hiace van to a complete stop. He re- mained at the scene notice- ably distressed and repeat- edly saying how sorry he was. The victim was taken to hospital, where she died the next day. Tamasa was taken to hospital for treatment of hypertension and was re- leased around 10 p.m. Justice Wood said he had read a victim impact report from the victim’s husband, along with a social inquiry report about Tamasa and his letter of apology to the vic- tim’s family. He said as much as he tried, he could not imagine the depth of their grief at her sudden passing. ”There were moments I wished it were my own life that was taken. Only God knows how much this accident has affected my life, especially my health. Deepest remorse has never left me and I wish that the accident had never happened. I have relived the event every day.” The judge noted Tamasa’s previous clean traffic record, over 17 years experience as a licensed taxi operator and good character. He also observed that, since this incident, “some speed calming humps” had been put in that stretch of road. Tamasa was repre- sented by Richard Barton of Barton Attorneys-at Law, led by Ben Tonner QC of McGrath Tonner. Senior defence counsel Tonner pointed out that, under the Cayman Islands Penal Code, sentences for traffic cases could not be suspended. He said that re- striction should be changed. “The Court of Appeal has commented recently that it should be changed. So far, it has not been.” He suggested that the only option was for the court to consider a community service order. The judge said he had no alternative, realistically, as he had intended to pass a sus- pended sentence. He said he found his sentencing options “extraordinary”. Checking with a social worker, who confirmed that suitable projects could be found, Justice Wood imposed the maximum amount of community service allowed by law. He also ordered dis- qualification from driving for three years and agreed to the return of the vehicle to its owner. Tamasa’s insurance com- pany was expected to sort out compensation claims by the victim’s husband. CAYMAN COMPASS MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 ” There were moments I wished it were my own life that was taken.” ROY TAMASA, defendant Community service ordered for doctor’s road death Tourism sector continues to smash records committed to developing innovative and authentic strategies for attracting travellers from key source markets. “The recent launch of the USA-focused Dream in Cayman campaign pushes the boundaries of destina- tion advertising and I look forward to evaluating the results of the campaign in the months to come.” Heading into the second quarter, the Department of Tourism stated that it will again roll out its summer promotion, ‘Kids Culinary Capital of the Caribbean’, which features hands- on culinary activities for children, along with ex- ceptional offers for fami- lies to enjoy. “Additionally, the Cayman Islands can look forward to increased airlift to the des- tination with the announce- ment of Southwest Airlines’ new direct Saturday service from Baltimore/Washington starting June 15, 2019,” the department stated. Roy Clivey Tamasa’s taxi at the scene of the July 17, 2017, fatal accident in which Dr. Vary Jones-Leslie was killed as she crossed the road near Owen Roberts International Airport. Tamasa was sentenced on Friday to community service. - PHOTO: FILE Dr. Vary Jones-Leslie The number of stayover visitors arriving by air broke new records during the first three months of 2019. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Ex-president Da Silva: Brazil governed by ‘crazy people’ RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – From the federal police headquar- ters where he is serving a sentence for corruption and money laundering, Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the South American country is now being governed by a “bunch of crazy people”. Da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010, said Brazilians should look at themselves in the mirror after the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has garnered world at- tention for his promises to open up the Amazon to devel- opment, and comments seen as offensive to minorities and the LGBT community. “We are going to do a general self-criticism in this country. This country cannot be governed by the bunch of crazy people who govern it,” said da Silva, who is commonly known as Lula, in an interview with the newspapers El Pais and Folha de S. Paulo. “The country doesn’t deserve this and more importantly the people don’t deserve this.” The Workers’ Party leader has been held in the city of Curitiba since April 2018, after a second court ratified the sentence handed down by former judge Sergio Moro, who is now Brazil’s justice minister. Da Silva was convicted of cor- ruption and money laun- dering over a beachfront apartment that prosecutors say he received from a con- struction company in ex- change for lucrative govern- ment contracts. “I am obsessed with un- masking judge Moro and those who sentenced me. I want to expose the farce that was mounted in the Justice Department of the United States,” asserted the ex-pres- ident in the first interview to be authorised by authorities since he was jailed. Tuesday, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court reduced the penalty of the former president from 12 years to eight years and 10 months. If he does not re- ceive any new sentences be- fore then, he could enter a semi-open prison regime in September. Although he focussed his criticism on Moro, Brazil’s former president was also found guilty by a second court and also by the Su- preme Court. “I know very well my place in history. I reaffirm my innocence,” da Silva said. Da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010, said Brazilians should look at themselves in the mirror after the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Supporter of Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, holds signs during a vigil in front of the headquarters of the Superior Court of Justice, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday. – PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS Pope donates $500,000 for migrants in Mexico Pope Francis has donated 500,000 dollars to help migrants in Mexico, offering assistance to local projects that provide food, lodging and basic necessities. The aid is primarily intended to assist the more than 75,000 people who arrived in Mexico in 2018, in six migrant caravans. Gunman opens fire in San Diego synagogue 4 die after construction crane crushes cars in Seattle SEATTLE (AP) – Four people died and three were injured when a construction crane on the new Google Seattle campus collapsed Saturday, pinning six cars underneath. One female and three males were dead by the time firefighters got to the scene, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. Two of the dead were ironworkers, and the two others were people who had been in cars, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said Sat- urday night. A 25-year-old mother and her 4-month-old daughter were in a car that was smashed by the crane, but both managed to escape with only minor injuries, Durkan said. They and a 28-year-old man were taken to Harbour- view Medical Center, Seattle Fire spokesman Lance Gar- land said. A fourth person also was injured and treated at the scene. Harbourview spokes- woman Susan Gregg said Saturday night that the mother and baby had been discharged, while the man injured was in satisfac- tory condition. The King County Med- ical Examiner’s Office said it would not release names of people who died until Monday. “It’s a horrible day in Se- attle when something like this happens. But it’s a time when we come together be- cause Seattle is a city that rallies around each other,” Durkan said. The crane collapsed near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue near Interstate 5 shortly be- fore 3:30 p.m., Scoggins said. With Amazon and other tech companies increasing their hiring in Seattle, the city has dozens of construc- tion cranes building office towers and apartment build- ings. As of January, there were about 60 construction cranes in Seattle, more than any other American city. Officials do not yet know the cause of the collapse. Po- lice and the state Department of Labor and Industries were investigating the incident, which Durkan said could take months. Daren Konopaski, the busi- ness manager for the Inter- national Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, which represents heavy-equipment operators, told The Seattle Times he understood the crane was being dismantled when heavy winds moved through the area. “We don’t know, but that’s what seems to have hap- pened here,” he said. “We are in the process of trying to get information.” Durkan confirmed that people were actively working on top of the building Sat- urday, but she did not say whether the crane was being dismantled. A line of showers moved over Seattle just about the time the crane fell, the Na- tional Weather Service in Se- attle said. An observation sta- tion on nearby Lake Union showed winds kicked up with gusts of up to 23 mph at 3:28 p.m., just about the time officials said the crane fell. “It was terrifying,” wit- ness Esther Nelson, a biotech researcher who was working in a building nearby, told the newspaper. “The wind was blowing really strong,” she said, and added that the crane ap- peared to break in half. “Half of it was flying down side- ways on the building,” she said. “The other half fell down on the street, crossing both lanes of traffic.” The office building the crane fell from was badly damaged, with several of its windows smashed. A Google spokesperson said in a statement that the company was saddened to learn of the accident and that they were in communi- cation with Vulcan, the real estate firm that is managing the site and working with authorities. A crane collapsed in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue in 2006, damaging three neighbouring buildings and killing a Microsoft attorney who was sitting in his living room. The state Depart- ment of Labor and Indus- tries cited two companies for workplace-safety violations after an investigation that found a flawed design for the crane’s base. POWAY, Calif. (AP) – A 19-year-old gunman opened fire inside a syn- agogue near San Diego as wor- shippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday, killing a woman and wounding the rabbi and two others Saturday, au- thorities said. President Donald Trump and other elected officials decried what they called an anti-Semitic attack exactly six months since 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh syna- gogue in the deadliest assault on Jews in US history. There were indications an AR- type assault weapon might have malfunctioned after the gunman, identified as John Earnest, fired nu- merous rounds inside the Chabad of Poway, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said. An off-duty Border Patrol agent working as a security guard fired at the shooter as he ran away, missing him but striking his getaway ve- hicle, San Diego County Sheriff Wil- liam Gore said. Shortly after fleeing, Earnest called 911 to report the shooting, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said. When an officer reached him on a roadway, “the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody”, Nisleit said. The sheriff said a girl and two men, including the rabbi, were wounded as the Jewish congrega- tion gathered for Passover, a week- long commemoration of the deliver- ance of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The three were in stable condition at hospitals. A Jewish leader in the San Diego area identified the victims of the shooting. Lori Kaye, 60, of Poway was killed, Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, ex- ecutive director of Chabad of San Diego County, said in a statement. Those injured in the shooting Sat- urday were Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, Noya Dahan, 8, and Almog Peretz, 34, he said. “In the face of senseless hate we commit to live proudly as Jews in this glorious country,” Fradkin said. “We strongly believe that love is exponentially more powerful than hate. We are deeply shaken by the loss of a true woman of valor, Lori Kaye, who lost her life solely for living as a Jew.” Earnest has no criminal re- cord, but investigators were looking into a claim he made in an on- line manifesto about setting a fire at a mosque in nearby Escondido last month, Gore said. There was damage but no injuries. Gore said authorities were re- viewing copies of his social media posts and were investigating the attack as a possible hate crime in the city of Poway, just over 20 miles north of San Diego. A person identifying themselves as John Earnest posted an anti- Jewish screed online about an hour before the attack. The poster de- scribed himself as a nursing school student and praised the suspects accused of carrying out deadly at- tacks on mosques in New Zealand last month and at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27. California State University, San Marcos, confirmed Earnest was a student on the dean’s list and said the school was “dismayed and dis- heartened” that he was suspected in “this despicable act”. There was no known threat after Earnest was arrested, but authori- ties boosted patrols at places of worship as a precaution, police said. Minoo Anvari, a member of the synagogue, told media outlets that her husband was inside during the shooting. She said he called to tell her the shooter was shouting and cursing. She called the shooting “unbe- lievable” in a peaceful and tight- knit community. Trump offered his sympa- thies Saturday, saying the shooting “looked like a hate crime”. “Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded and stands in solidary with the Jewish community,” Trump said later at a rally in Wisconsin. “We forcefully condemn the evils of anti- Semitism and hate, which must be defeated.” He praised law enforcement’s “incredible response” and singled out the off-duty Border Patrol agent who “bravely returned fire and helped disrupt the attack and saved so many lives”. The sheriff said the gun possibly malfunctioned. The mayor of Poway, who tweeted that he got a call from the president offering help, also denounced what he called a hate crime. “I want you know this is not Poway,” Mayor Steve Vaus said. “We always walk with our arms around each other and we will walk through this tragedy with our arms around each other.” Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he joins the community in grief. “No one should have to fear going to their place of worship, and no one should be targeted for practicing the tenets of their faith,” he said. Heavily armed San Diego police officers approach a house Saturday thought to be the home of 19-year-old John T. Earnest, who is a suspect in the shooting of several people in a San Diego synagogue. – PHOTO: JOHN GIBBINS/SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE VIA AP Emergency crews work at the scene of a construction crane collapse near Interstate 5 Saturday in Seattle. – PHOTO: AP9 WORLD®IONAL CAYMAN COMPASS MONDAY APRIL 29, 2019 In Loving Memory On your 96th Birthday DAD - Clifton Nevis Bodden 29th April 1923 - 2nd August 2018 Thinking about you warmly, now that your Birthday is here, As you are always thought about, each day throughout the year, We're sending you this message, especially to say, You are someone very special and you are loved more and more every day. Love always Your children, Jewell, Marie, Lloys and Floyd Love you Dad Sri Lanka militants set off bombs during raid, killing 15 INDIAN POLICE UNCOVERED PLOT, BUT SRI LANKA DID NOT ACT COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – While monitoring the usual channels, Indian police stum- bled upon something ex- traordinary: a detailed plot for what would become the bloodiest attack linked to the Islamic State group in South Asia. Police were investigating suspected sympathisers of the withered caliphate in southern India when a name they had no record of sur- faced – National Towheed Jamaat, the Sri Lankan IS- backed militant organiza- tion that authorities say conducted the coordinated Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people. Indian police managed to break into the group’s communications and began tapping into the plot, ac- cording to Ajai Sahni, exec- utive director of the Insti- tute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. “That is why the kind of detailing of the incident they received was very, very spe- cific,” Sahni said. “They knew the group, they knew the tar- gets, they knew the time, they knew the whereabouts of the suicide bombers, and all of this was communicated to the Sri Lankan government.” Top Sri Lankan officials have acknowledged that some of the island nation’s intelligence units were given advance notice about the at- tacks – starting weeks ago and up until the morning of the bombings – but that little was done to prevent them. Both President Maithri- pala Sirisena, who is also Sri Lanka’s minister of defence and in charge of national police, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has been kept out of high- level security meetings since Sirisena tried to oust him last fall, said they only learned about the plot after it had been carried out. “The fact is, it’s very, very specific information and that has been conveyed to everyone in writing. That is the action that was missing in some cases. That’s what we’re inves- tigating,” Wickremesinghe said. The first intelligence brief from India arrived April 4, more than two weeks be- fore the bombings. It said a suicide terrorist attack was planned against “some impor- tant churches” and listed six people likely to be involved. The deputy inspector of po- lice shared the report with at least four security unit direc- tors, including those respon- sible for ‘VIPs’ and foreign em- bassies, along with a memo, urging the directors to pay extra attention to the places and people in their care. India’s final intelligence warning came just before the Easter morning blasts, Sahni said. Why the warnings went unheeded is the subject of intense public debate, with some blaming the disman- tling of a system built by former strongman Presi- dent Mahinda Rajapaksa for rapid response to rebel activity during Sri Lanka’s long civil war. AMPARA, Sri Lanka (AP) – Mil- itants linked to Easter sui- cide bombings opened fire and set off explosives during a raid by Sri Lankan secu- rity forces on a house in the country’s east, leaving be- hind a grisly discovery Sat- urday: 15 bodies, including six children. The gunbattle that began Friday night and the carnage that followed come amid widespread fear of more at- tacks as officials hunt for militants with explosives be- lieved to still be at large after the coordinated bombings of churches and luxury ho- tels that killed more than 250 people last weekend. Raids and police curfews have shut down areas of eastern Sri Lanka, and Cath- olic leaders have cancelled Sunday Masses indefinitely. Officials also urged Muslims to stay home for prayers in an extraordinary call by the clergy to curtail worship. The government on Sat- urday also formally banned two extremist groups pur- portedly linked to the attacks, allowing officials to confis- cate their property, presiden- tial spokesman Dharmasri Ekanayake said. The US Department of State, citing terror groups plotting more possible at- tacks, urged Americans to re- consider travel to Sri Lanka and ordered the school- age children of govern- ment workers to leave the country. The US Embassy in Sri Lanka has previously warned the public to stay away from places of wor- ship over the weekend, a stark alert underlining that authorities believe some at- tackers remain at large. The gunfight Friday came after police tipped off sol- diers about a suspected safe house near the town of Sam- manthurai in Sri Lanka’s Ampara District, where au- thorities said the militants set off three explosions and opened fire. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said some of the dead likely were militants who blew themselves up in suicide bombings. Earlier, the military said at least one civilian had been killed in the attack. A girl and a woman sur- vived the explosion at the suspected safe house but were critically injured and being treated at a hospital, Gunasekara said. Photographs taken by The Associated Press show the charred remains of one child and the body of another wearing a green T-shirt with the words “good boy” written on the back. The bodies of an adult woman and man were found after the explosion with their clothes burned off. Meanwhile, the military said security forces had re- covered explosives, deto- nators, “suicide kits”, mili- tary uniforms and Islamic State group flags in the on- going raids. Gunasekara said officers acting on information from intelligence officials also found 150 sticks of blasting gelatin and 100,000 small metal balls, as well as a van and clothing suspected of being used by those involved in the Easter attacks. Suicide bomb vests often are packed with such balls to increase the shrapnel in the explosion, making them even deadlier. Fear of more attacks has led to increased security at churches, shrines, tem- ples and mosques across the multiethnic island nation of 21 million off the southern coast of India. Cardinal Malcolm Ran- jith, the archbishop of Co- lombo, told reporters Friday that church officials had seen a leaked security doc- ument describing Roman Catholic churches and other denominations as a major target. He asked the faithful across Sri Lanka to stay home for their own safety. “We don’t want repeti- tions,” Ranjith said. It was an extraordinary request for a Catholic cler- gyman to make, as churches often remain a refuge. Gio- vanni Maria Vian, a church historian and emeritus ed- itor of the Vatican news- paper, said he believed it was the first time the church had canceled Masses across a country for security reasons. In Galle Face, a normally crowded oceanside park in Colombo near some of the hotels that were bombed, only a few people could be seen Saturday. Kiosks were closed and traffic was lighter than usual, with se- curity officials blocking streets and checking vehicles at barricades. Yashwant Kumar Singh, 23, a worker from India, said he wants to go back to his homeland because he fears another attack. “If it only happened on one day, then that wouldn’t have been so difficult, but bombs are going off here every day. That is why there is an atmosphere of fear. We are feeling very scared,” he said. Meanwhile, cleaning crews worked at St. Antho- ny’s Shrine in Colombo, the capital, where broken glass still littered a blood-stained floor, the remnants of one of the Easter attacks. They col- lected debris, tossing it into a truck parked outside as a heavy contingent of security forces stood guard. Authorities told Mus- lims to worship at home rather than attend communal Friday prayers that are the most important religious service of the week, but sev- eral mosques held services anyway. At a mosque in Co- lombo, police armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles stood guard outside for hun- dreds of worshippers. The Easter attackers are “not Muslims. This is not Islam. This is an animal”, said Akurana Muhandram - lage Jamaldeen Mohamed Jayfer, the chairman of the mosque. “We don’t have a word (strong enough) to curse them.” There were also reports by some Muslims of harassment because of their religion. A local television channel showed people on a bus asking a Muslim woman wearing a traditional burqa to either remove it or leave the bus. She later left the bus. Abdul Azeez Abdul Sattar, 63, an auto-rickshaw driver, said a man in his neighbour- hood refused to hire him, telling him, “You are a ter- rorist; you have a bomb. I won’t take your auto.” There were several armed police officers guarding the Holy Cross Church in Gampaha, a predominantly Buddhist town. “People are shocked, be- cause this came years after the war ended, and after all these years, we have been living in peace,” said Pradeep Kumara, 36, a clerk at a pri- vate company, referring to Sri Lanka’s long civil war, which ended in 2009. “This has dis- rupted our work, and our or- dinary and normal life. We don’t want to go back to that troublesome period.” Sri Lanka’s government, crippled from a long polit- ical crisis between the pres- ident and prime minister last year, promised swift ac- tion to capture militants still at large. President Maithri- pala Sirisena said about 140 people had been identified as having links to the Islamic State group. The gunbattle that began Friday night and the carnage that followed come amid widespread fear of more attacks. Sri Lankan police and army officers display bomb-making materials recovered from a hideout of militants after Friday’s gunbattle in Kalmunai, in eastern Sri Lanka. – PHOTO: APNext >